Knit Happens

Yes, I’m sure that you’ll be seeing this video pop up a lot over the next few days on every knitting blog you follow (both shops and personal ones, I bet) – Mo Rocca making peace with knitters all over the world after his statement on Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me that “homemade sweaters are itchy.” He has his slice of humble pie by learning to knit and finding out that it’s not as easy as it looks – and gets hooked. (He even knows the difference between knitting and crocheting. My abandoned Mo Rocca crush? Back in full force after this.)

Definitely not us.  Tiara is the newest addition to the Knit Happens family and while she is a brand new knitter, she is a crocheter from way back!  She’s on a mission to spread the crochet-love around Alexandria, one garment at a time.

She whipped up this little number from the book, Blueprint Crochet: Modern Designs for the Visual Crocheter, in just a couple of days.  Don’t I wish my sweaters would knit up that quickly… maybe there is something to this crocheting thing, huh?    She is finishing a second sweater from the book as we speak.  She says that the patterns are generously sized, so gauge swatches are a must!  But a gauge swatch doesn’t seems so bad when you get such a great fitting sweater out of the deal, no?

Doesn’t this just make you want to give crochet a try?  We’ve got 3 Beginning Crochet classes scheduled in the next two months – hopefully one of those classes will work with your schedule!  Click on the “Classes and Events” tab at the top of the page for details.

(Yes, we do have Blueprint Crochet in stock!  Need me to hold a copy?  Just call and let me know!)

Have you noticed the new tab at the top of the page? Take a look, I’ll wait. Yes, that new tab says “Classes and Events” – which can only mean that the classes are finally up! Hooray!

When you click over there, you’ll notice that we have a snazzy calendar on there (provided by Google Calendar – however did we get along without the little things like that to make life easier?) that lists both our classes (in green) and shop events (in pink, natch). You’ll notice that we have a couple classes in April and May on days where the shop is closed – that isn’t a typo, we will have those classes that day.

How to find out more information and register for the classes? Click on the class and the information will pop up, including price, materials needed and reading recommendations/prerequisites, if any. Then, give us a call at the shop – or stop in – and we’ll get you all squared away. Remember, we keep our classes small and they fill quickly, so register early and tell your friends!

I was going through my blog reader tonight and saw a post on one of them that said that the new Knitty was up!  Of course, I immediately went over there and took a look… and now my queue is overflowing – again.  Oops.  I just may have added Torreyana, Inamorata (designed by my friend Mercedes!), Tappan Zee, and Tribute (you know I had to add a sock pattern in) to my queue.  This may just be the best Spring Knitty in a while – thanks Amy!

What are you thinking about knitting from this latest Knitty?  Post your answers in the comments – also, what yarns are you thinking of using with them?

When I moved everything over here, I forgot about updating the RSS feed.  Oops.  I’m trying to get it back up on the sidebar, but it’s being difficult, so I’ll just put it up out here.  http://knithappens.net/wp-rss2.php

Update your blog readers accordingly – once I get a chance to make sure I have copies of all the pictures that were on the Blogger blog, it’ll be deleted.

Yes, that would be a lovely and gorgeous February Baby Sweater knit by our own lovely Elspeth for a friend’s baby.  Knit out of Rowan Wool Cotton, it’s a soft comfy sweater that any baby would look wonderful in and would love wearing.  The only problem?  The sweater is a wee bit big.  

Just a bit.  The sweater fits Elspeth, and she is a tiny person.  (Doesn’t she look adorable in it, though?)  I know you all have heard me say “it’s a baby sweater, they’ll grow into it one day,” and that’s what we were saying until Elspeth tried it on.  Then we had the bright idea to see how big it really was…

We discovered that it fit me.  (Actually, it does close on me, too – we all decided that it is now a February bolero.)  Now, as I’m a bit “less tiny” than Elspeth, we chalked it up to a lesson in gauge.

Kids, this is why we tell you to swatch, lest you end up with a very large baby sweater/very small adult bolero.  What about offering a class in gauge to learn what you should be looking for, you say?  I hear you and I’m on it.

(Photo of Elspeth totally bogarted from her Twitter – with her permission, of course, along with permission to use the story and sweater for a gauge lesson. Thank you Elspeth!)

Wow, it’s kind of hard to believe that another year has passed and it’s our birthday again.  Six years ago, we opened our doors, not knowing just what to expect and we have been overwhelmed by your love and support ever since.  Thank you so much for letting us be a part of your lives – without you, we would never have gotten to this milestone (and I would never have been able to use the picture on the left – hey, it was one of my favorite books as a child!), so thank you!

How are we going to celebrate?  How do we always celebrate?  With a HUGE sale, of course!  Yup, this weekend (Saturday 3/13 and Sunday 3/14) the entire store will be 20% off!  Yarn, needles, notions, books, bags, magazines – all 20% off! There will even be a few lines that will be marked down even further – we’ve got to make way for all the spring yarn somehow, right?  We’ll also be giving away special prizes to two lucky people over the weekend, so be sure to make sure your name is in our database!

As usual, we will be marking Insatiable Knitter Cards for all purchases, but we won’t be redeeming them.  The sale prices are good on purchases made in store only, not on special orders or phone orders.

Rachelle and I will be here from 10:30 – 7 on Saturday and Tiara and I will be here from 12 -5 on Sunday; it’s looking like it’s going to be a gloomy, rainy weekend, so why not liven it up with some fun times at the yarn shop?